http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/01/08/cadaver.arm.ap/index.html
I know I would have loved to see this in 5th grade, but I might have been a weird kid.
Was is appropriate for this guy to open up a human arm in front of the kids?
Perhaps they should have got parent’s permission, I don’t know.
uuugggghhhhh…
i’m gonna hurl.
Without parental permission and without the kids being prepared for it? Definitely no. I’m sorry, but I don’t think kids should be exposed to that sort of thing in real life that early. (I say “in real life” because I’m sure many of those kids have seen something similar in the movies or on TV. But seeing someone blown apart on TV is much different than seeing an arm cut into in front of your face).
I was pretty interested in science in school too, but seeing a dismembered human arm at that age would have seriously messed with my head.
Actually, I don’t know how well I’d deal with it now. I’m sure the guy had the best of intentions, but he should understand that some of us can’t look at dead humans (or parts of humans) in the same detached way a lot of doctors can.
Dude, I’m 21 and going starting tomorrow have a class where six times during the semester I go to a medical college to disect cadavers, and it’s freakin’ me out now! In 5th grade who knows what I would do.
Stick to frogs.
Oh, man, that would have been too cool!
Still, I can imagine the screams and squeals . . .
Anyway, I don’t have a problem with it. I don’t think they said in the article if the good doctor gave anybody any warning or not. It probably would have been best, though, had the teacher been given the opportunity to prepare the class.
This is the part of the article that caught my eye, bolding mine: “*
Horowitz said he was surprised by the complaints, saying he’s visited the school in the past with cadaver ears, eyes and a brain.”* I wish I’d gone to school with Horowitz’s kid.
You know he kicked ASS during show 'n tell!!
Parental permission would probably be a good idea, but otherwise I’m all for letting 5th graders have this experience. I was very sheltered as a child, and I would like my (still hypothetical) children to be more tough-minded than I. Obviously there are limits but the tykes are tougher than we often think.
Holy &*^^!
I didn’t even get a frog until grade nine!
I’m trying to remember what I was like in fifth grade. I can remember 4th and 6th, but not 5th. I think some advance warning is required. I didn’t even get to frogs until 9th grade. Still, to those who survived the experience, two words: med school.
Sooooo… they were all out of heads to dissect?
At least the parent wasn’t a mortician.
I would expect a little more common sense from a doctor in regards to the psychological mind-set of 10 year olds. Makes me wonder what policy was violated in regards to the borrowing of cadaver parts.
Advance warning in cases like this is a must. I would be very annoyed if not informed.
OTOH I attended cadavar lab with my daughter in high school. It required a permission slip and was done in a very respectful atmosphere. Beginning with a talk about how the person we were examining should not be the subject of jokes or slurs and should be respected as an indivdual who was contributing to the knowledge of the students present. Very well done presentation.
As part of the same class we attended a double knee replacement surgery. YIKES lets all attend to our joints so we don’t have to go thru this.
When I was a kid the family next door owned a meat packing plant. Once the neighbor kid arranged a tour of the plant for her 5th grade classmates, and specifically said they weren’t to go on the killing floor. Well, that’s where they started the tour. You can imagine the reaction of the kids. Some things are just too much.
StG
I would’ve loved that! But i’m a wierdo now…so…
I could barely deal with dissecting a worm in ninth grade, and that was only because it was icky. If I were subjected to that in fifth grade, I can guarantee I would have spent every night that week hiding under my bed from the heebie-jeebies.
“Don’t let the name throw you Jimmy. It’s not really a floor, it’s more of a steel grating that allows material to sluice through so it can be collected and exported.”
I didn’t even get to the frog until 10th grade. Geez.
Personally, I would have LOVED this, both as a 5th grader and now (I’m a forensics major, go fig ). I don’t think it should have been done without parental permission, and like some of you, I’m also wondering if there was some sort of protocol violated in bringing the body parts to the school. I would have liked it, but I was a weird kid - I can easily see how this could really screw up a young kid, especially one who wasn’t expected to see a severed arm.
And please, tell me where a high school kid gets to do a cadaver lab! I was lucky to get to have a worm AND a frog!
In my fifth grade class, someone brought in a bucket with three human brains. I kid you not. It was unbelievably cool. One kid snuck up to touch a brain; we were all very impressed by him.
It would have been best if the doc and teacher had notified the parents, but overall, I think it was okay.
In fifth grade, we dissected a pigs eye-ball. Heart on lung of a lamb in sixthgrade. We did worm, crawdad and frog in seventh grade. Fetal pig in ninth grade.
I probably would have been able to handle it. When we did the eye, I stuck it on my finger and used it as a puppet.
I don’t recall having to get permission slips for these, but I do remember having the option to leave the room and do a worksheet instead.
Wow. 5th grade. Kinda early, I think. Permission slips would’ve been a good idea.
Me? I would’ve been 1st in line, scalpel in hand!